


The Bus

by IsvsWorld



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Heavy Themes on Death, Ideas of Afterlife, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Transphobia, LGBTQ Themes, Not as Edgy/Angsty as it seems I swear, This Probably is a Little confusing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 05:52:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13160622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsvsWorld/pseuds/IsvsWorld
Summary: Madeline sometimes wishes that the bus stop had a shelter so that she can hide from the biting cold that Mother Nature is punishing her with. The bus is late, too.





	The Bus

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, this is a personal project for me and is the first actual story I've posted online. It might have a few grammatical errors, which I try my best to correct I swear. This story is heavily themed on death, and has a lot of implied heavy content, including child abuse, homophobia, transphobia, suicide, and has like, a part of a swear. Please do not read if you don't want to see these things. (And I swear it's not as edgy as it seems, all of the heavy stuff is mostly implied)
> 
> This was also at first an original story, and I just kind of reskinned it to be a Hetalia fanfic instead because I thought why the hell not.

It was a cold, snowy night. The snow fell silently to the ground in its constant waltz, and the wind stood still as if holding its breath.

It was so cold it hurt to breathe. _It must be at least minus 30 degrees,_ Madeline thought bitterly. She certainly did not appreciate Mother Nature's efforts to make that night so uncomfortable for her. 

The streets were silent. The emptiness of the roads made Madeline quite uneasy, so used to the sounds of bustling people and loud, roaring cars filling the air. 

Madeline shivered and pulled as much of her scarf over her face as she could. The bus really is taking its time. 

Her legs were tired and numb by the time the bus came rolling down the street. It looked out of place, breaking the silent peace the entire street was in before it made its entrance. 

The doors of the bus slid open to reveal a fat, middle-aged man. He looked at Madeline boredly as she stepped on, and just stared as she stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"Well?" He said after a short moment in a gruff voice, "Pay up!" 

Madeline stared at the box next to him and resolved to just pay with the loose change she kept in her pencil bag. 

The bus driver stared impatiently as Madeline rummaged through her backpack. She quickly dropped the coins in the box and made her way down the aisle with her head down. She avoided looking at anybody. She was already a little embarrassed with the large amount of time she spent fumbling for change, and she didn't need to make things more awkward by accidentally making eye contact with anyone. 

Madeline quickly grabbed one of the poles as the bus suddenly lurched (with a bit too much force, she might add). She sat down as fast as possible and hugged her backpack to her chest, refusing to look up.

She did look up eventually though. At the next stop, she jerked up from dozing off at the sudden hit of the brakes. People began to pile in, showing bus passes and tickets they had surely gotten from their family. 

At first glance, one of the women were bald, but after Madeline blinked, she had long, gorgeous brown locks. She really was beautiful, with a small effortless smile that never left her lips. She seemed at peace. 

Another man looked like he had a hole through his head, but quickly morphed to have a completely unscarred face. Even without the hole though, the man looked very unpleasant, with eyes that flicked around everywhere and a constant scowl.

Madeline pulled closer into herself. 

As the bus went on, stopping here and there, new people came streaming in in staggering variety. There was once a large group of children that came clambering in loud, rambunctious chatter, an older woman trying to make them settle down. There was also a young man with a baby in his arms, smiling despite the sad, forlorn look in his eyes. 

The kids all had gun wounds at first, the woman having several. The man was covered in bruises and had joints pointing in strange angles, the baby skinny and pale. They all immediately healed to show happy, healthy bodies. 

Once, a boy who looked to be about 9 walked in extremely malnourished and covered in cuts and bruises. They healed quickly to show a girl standing there instead, with the childish softness in her cheeks that was missing a few seconds before. Madeline pulled her sleeves to cover her wrists and ignored the guilt swirling and churning in her stomach. 

As the bus filled with more and more people to become extremely crowded, the scenery started to change. The colours of the world started to fade to a blank white, and the trees started to tower over everything in a tall and sturdy stance. 

People started to get off. 

The bald, beautiful lady bounded happily into the arms of a tall man with glasses. Madeline got a glimpse of grandparents greeting each of the children, and an old lady walked slowly down the steps, sobbing to be grabbed by another old man who was weeping as well.

The boy turned girl walked out to another girl who twirled her around immediately in a tight hug.

The bus started to empty, the ruder, angrier looking people getting off later than anyone else. The bus which was packed full a few minutes ago now only had Alyssa sitting in it, swaying back and forth with the rocking of the vehicle. 

Finally, the bus came to a stop. The driver called out. 

"This is the last stop. You gotta get off." 

The white had faded darker and darker the further they went to a black night. Madeline gulped and made her way to the doors. She stepped off as slowly as possible and stood silently as the bus drove away.

She stood for a while, not knowing what to do, until she finally decided to sit down on the stone cold bench. 

It was just like the night in the living world.

Madeline dug into her backpack and pulled out her razor knife. She glared at it, and tossed it away into the dark abyss. She sat still from then, gazing off into nothing.

After what felt like an eternity, another bus rolled around, and opened to reveal a young boy about Madeline's age with bright white hair struggling with a frenzied looking woman trying to get him to get off. 

Madeline looked with indifferent interest at the fight.

The boy was finally thrown to the ground and watched helplessly as the bus roared away. He then got up, brushing off his jeans and sat on the other end of the bench from Madeline. 

They sat in silence for a while. 

It was when Madeline finally managed to come to terms with her quiet guilt that the boy suddenly began to speak

"Why did you do it?" He asked in a serious tone.

Madeline stared at her wrists, and then looked back up at the boy.

"Why did you?" Madeline retaliated after a long pause. She didn't feel like explaining what happened first.

The boy snorted. "I lived in a small conservative town. Small, conservative towns don't like fags."

Madeline stared for a while as the boy looked angrily into the distance. She then sighed. 

"I have a penis," she finally said.

The two sat in silence again, save for Madeline’s tears. Madeline wiped at her eyes and tried to stifle her sobs as the boy looked angrily into the sky. She couldn't see very clearly with her clouded tear-filled eyes, but she thought she saw the boy raise his middle finger at it.

Only after she quieted down did the boy stand up and held out his hand.

"Come on, let's go," he said, not unkindly. 

Madeline stared at the hand before asking in a quiet voice, "Where are we going?" 

"Anywhere from here."

Madeline looked into the boy's eyes and searched for any ill intentions. After not finding any, she took his hand.

She left behind the backpack.

From its opening slipped out a photo of a young boy with their family smiling up at the camera.

**Author's Note:**

> All comments would be very much appreciated!


End file.
